George Orson Welles was an American director, actor, screenwriter, and producer who is remembered for his innovative work in radio, theatre and film. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time.
Daniel Patrick Macnee was an English film and television actor. After serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, he began his acting career in Canada. Despite having some small film roles, Macnee spent much of his early career in playing small roles in American and Canadian television shows. In 1961, he landed the role of secret agent John Steed in the British television series The Avengers. The show was a success running for eight seasons from 1961 to 1969 and was revived in 1976 as The New Avengers. The show was a major breakthrough for Macnee and led to his roles in many films including This Is Spinal Tap and A View to a Kill as well as continuing to appear in both British and US television shows up until 2001.
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be a person, group, or organization. Contract killing has been associated with organized crime, government conspiracies, dictatorships, and vendettas. For example, in the United States, the Jewish-American organized crime gang Murder, Inc. committed hundreds of murders on behalf of the National Crime Syndicate during the 1930s and '40s.
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an Irish-American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television. Born in the United States to Irish emigrant parents, he was raised in Ireland and England. He began his career in the United Kingdom in the 1950s and rose to prominence for his role as secret agent John Drake in the ITC espionage programme Danger Man (1960–1968). He then produced and created The Prisoner (1967–1968), a surrealistic television series in which he starred as Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village. Beginning in the 1970s, McGoohan maintained a long-running association with Columbo, writing, directing, producing and appearing in several episodes. His notable film roles include Dr. Paul Ruth in Scanners (1981) and King Edward I in Braveheart (1995). He was a BAFTA Award and two-time Primetime Emmy Award winner.
Maurice Harington Kaufmann was a British actor of stage, film and television, who specialised in whodunits and horror films, from 1954 to 1981, when he retired.
The Black Museum is a radio crime-drama program produced by Harry Alan Towers, which was broadcast in the USA on the Mutual network in 1952. It was then broadcast in Europe in 1953 on Radio Luxembourg, a commercial radio station, and was not broadcast by the BBC until 1991.
Harold Thomas Gregson, known professionally as John Gregson, was an English actor of stage, television and film, with 40 credited film roles. He was best known for his crime drama and comedy roles.
Lord of Illusions is a 1995 American neo-noir supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, based on his own short story "The Last Illusion" published in 1985 in the anthology Books of Blood Volume 6. The same story introduced Barker's occult detective hero Harry D'Amour, who later appeared in several prose stories and comic books. Lord of Illusions is D'Amour's first onscreen appearance, with the character portrayed by actor Scott Bakula. Other actors appearing in the film include Kevin J. O'Connor, Famke Janssen and Daniel von Bargen. The story features D'Amour, who has had several experiences with the supernatural, embarking on an investigation involving a stage illusionist named Swann and a cult led by a sorcerer named Nix.
Wilfrid Hyde-White was a British character actor of stage, film and television. He achieved international recognition for his role as Colonel Pickering in the film version of the musical My Fair Lady (1964).
The Lady from Shanghai is a 1947 American film noir directed by Orson Welles (uncredited) and starring Welles, his estranged wife Rita Hayworth, and Everett Sloane. It is based on the novel If I Die Before I Wake by Sherwood King.
Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond is an American anthology series created by Merwin Gerard. The original series was broadcast for three seasons by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) from January 1959 to July 1961.
The Medusa Touch is a 1978 British supernatural thriller/horror film directed by Jack Gold. It stars Richard Burton, Lino Ventura, Lee Remick and Harry Andrews, with cameos by Alan Badel, Derek Jacobi, Gordon Jackson, Jeremy Brett and Michael Hordern. The screenplay was by John Briley, based on the 1973 novel The Medusa Touch by Peter Van Greenaway.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, sometimes called The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1985 to 1986 and on the USA Network from 1987 to 1989. The series is an updated version of the 1955 eponymous series.
Helen Mary Cherry was an English stage, film and television actress. She was born in Worsley, Lancashire, and brought up in Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire.
Edward George More O'Ferrall was a pioneering British film and television producer and director, as well as an actor.
Suspicion is the title of an American television mystery drama series which aired on the NBC from 1957 through 1958. The executive producer of half of the filmed episodes (10) of Suspicion was film director Alfred Hitchcock.
Trent's Last Case is a 1952 British detective film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Michael Wilding, Margaret Lockwood, Orson Welles and John McCallum. It was based on the 1913 novel Trent's Last Case by E. C. Bentley, and had been filmed previously in the UK with Clive Brook in 1920, and in a 1929 US version.
Orson Welles Great Mysteries was a British television series originally transmitted between 1973 and 1974, produced by Anglia Television for the ITV network.
The Howling is an American werewolf-themed horror media franchise that includes three novels and eight films. The series began with the 1977 horror novel The Howling by Gary Brandner, which was in 1981 adapted into the film of the same name, directed by Joe Dante.
Dead of Night is a 1977 American made-for-television anthology horror film starring Ed Begley Jr., Anjanette Comer, Patrick Macnee, Horst Buchholz and Joan Hackett. Directed by Dan Curtis, the film consists of three stories written by Richard Matheson much like the earlier Trilogy of Terror. The film originally premiered on NBC on March 29, 1977.
